Archive By Section - Local News

Measure O, a half-cent sales tax increase, was passed by Oakdale voters on Tuesday. 56% of the voting public approved the measure, which will raise sales tax on items purchased in Oakdale by one half of one percent. The tax will be collected starting April 1, 2012 and expires March 31, 2015. The Oakdale City Council, City Manager and financial advisors met on Wednesday to set goals for the year and discuss the impact that the sales tax will have on the City of Oakdale's budget and spending. For the full story see the Nov. 16 issue of the ...

The salmon are spawning and people lined up along the Knights Ferry bridge to watch the activity in the Stanislaus River below while tent booths lined the shores of the riverbank and the parking area for the 2011 Salmon Festival on Saturday, Nov. 5.

The collective love for animals has enabled the Shelter Pet Alliance to make amazing things happen for the abused, forgotten and discarded animals brought into the Oakdale Animal Shelter on Liberini Road.

It started with a church youth group looking for a good community service project and turned into a solid and determined movement to take a stand against the graffiti that is quickly marring the beauty of Oakdale's parks.

Upgrades and repairs to the Oakdale Wastewater Treatment Plant are almost complete, but Oakdale City Council members would like some assurance that the engineering and construction meets industry standards. Final costs for the entire upgrade are estimated between $12 million and $13 million. The peer review process will cost an additional $30,000 to the sewer enterprise funds.

This Sunday, Californians will be rolling back their clocks as daylight saving comes to an end on Nov. 6. CAL FIRE and fire departments across the state are reminding residents to replace the batteries in all smoke alarms as well as their carbon monoxide (CO) alarm when they change their clocks.

In somewhat of a surprise move, the Oak Valley Hospital District Board of Directors announced this week that CEO John Friel will be placed on administrative leave until the end of his contract in February 2012. Current Chief Financial Officer John McCormick will take over as interim CEO.

When the sun rises over the chilly peaks of the Sierra Nevada on Saturday, a tribal elder from the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians will bless the giant Sierra white fir that will eventually be erected in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. as the nation's Christmas tree.

A 53-foot trailer with 20 lab stations, microscopes, and all the necessary tools for seventh graders in Fred Yerzy's and Linda Metcalf's science classes to do a DNA extraction showed up recently on the Oakdale Junior High School campus.

The Tuesday, Nov. 8 Consolidated District Election will see three local area school districts with contested elections as well as the City of Oakdale's Measure O sales tax initiative on the ballot. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Oak Valley Care Center will hold their annual Halloween Safe Door-to-Door Trick or Treat event on Monday, The event is open to the public and Oak Valley Care Center residents invite all local families to attend.

St. Matthias Church in Oakdale is welcoming a change in leadership from both a new Deacon-in-Charge and a new Diocesan Bishop. The Right Reverend Dr. Eric Menees, Diocesan Bishop of the more than 40 parishes in the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin, was installed on Oct. 22. His first parish visit as Diocesan Bishop was to St. Matthias in Oakdale.

One Oakdale resident has a tough decision to make: re-build the playhouse he created for his kids or appeal to City Council. The playhouse is eight inches too high to meet Oakdale City zoning codes. The resident appealed the code violation at the Oct. 19 Oakdale Planning Commission meeting, but it was denied by a 2 to 2 vote.

Oakdale resident Bill Jackson, a fifth generation Californian on his mother's side, was recently honored as the Livestock Man of the Year at the Grand National Rodeo and Stock Show at the Cow Palace in San Francisco for his accomplished career in the beef industry.

Faced with the possibility of financing a $20,000 special election as well as having to wait until the end of the year, the Oakdale City Council unanimously approved moving forward with the decision to appoint someone to fill Don Petersen's upcoming vacant seat.

Three members of the Oakdale Police Department were recognized for heroic action on Monday night, Feb. 2 stemming from a 2014 incident where a man threatened his family with a knife and who attempted to take his own life in the process.

For the second time the Stanislaus County District Attorney's Office has asked the court to grant them more time to decide if they will pursue criminal charges against a Turlock man accused of sexually assaulting an employee at his Oakdale pizzeria.